al-Saylīḥayn and on to Najaf, until they were finally driven into al-Madāʾin. The Muslims besieged them there so tightly that they were forced to eat dogs. The Persians then withdrew, bringing a small garrison and their families with them, and marched until they encamped at Jalūlāʾ.

Abū Wāʾil recounts: “We pursued them to the Euphrates, and Allah routed them; we pursued them to the Sarāt canal, and Allah routed them again, so that in the end we cornered them in al-Madāʾin.”

He also said: “I remember crossing the moat, walking over the bodies of men piled atop one another, each side having slain the other.”

Ḥabīb ibn Ṣuhbān related: “That day we captured so many gold vessels that a man would call out, ‘Yellow for white!’—meaning he would barter gold for silver.”

Al-Madāʾinī reports: After the victory at al-Qādisiyyah, Saʿd set off in pursuit of the enemy. The people of al-Ḥīrah met him and said, “We remain bound by our treaty,” and Bustām likewise approached and reached an agreement with him. Saʿd crossed the Euphrates and encountered a force commanded by Buṣbahra; Zuhrah ibn Ḥuwaiyah killed him. They next faced an army at Kūthā under the command of Fayruzān and routed it, then a large host at Dayr Kaʿb led by Farakhān, which they also routed. Saʿd then marched with the army until he reached al-Madāʾin and captured it.

Muḥammad ibn Jarīr (al-Ṭabarī), however, places the battle of al-Qādisiyyah in 14 AH. He adds that in 15 AH Saʿd founded Kūfah, and that in that same year ʿUmar fixed the stipends, established the state registers, and allocated the grants according to precedence.